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Number Crunch
"Number Crunch" is the tenth episode in season 1, and overall the tenth produced hour of Person of Interest. It originally aired on December 15, 2011. Synopsis Two men on the phone to each other worry what happened to “the kid” because he’s reckless. Meanwhile, the kid in question crashes his car on a city street. When Reese arrives at headquarters, he discovers that Finch is away from his computers. Looking around, Reese finds a book that Finch has been reading with a photo of a younger Finch and another man, “NI,” inserted inside. Finch returns and tells Reese that the Machine has given them the number of four Persons of interest: lecturer Claire Ryan, waiter Matt Duggan, hairstylist Wendy McNally, and an unemployed woman, Paula Vasquez. Reese wonders if one of them is going to kill the other three, but Finch is unable to find any immediate connection between them. Finch explains that Claire’s number came up a millisecond faster than the others and suggests that Reese check her out first. As Reese leaves, Finch refers to the photo and warns his partner to be careful what he looks for or he might find it. Two IA officers talk to Carter about her statement on Bottle Cap’s shooting. They’re interested in the unidentified shooter that she’s been investigating, and wonder if he protected carter from Bottle Cap. Carter insists that she doesn’t know why the man she’s been chasing for three months would suddenly protect her, even though they think she’s working with him. When they ask if the shooter has contacted her, Carter tells them that she won’t say anything further unless she has a union delegate with her. She goes back to her desk and Fusco asks how it’s going. He also asks if she got a good look at the shooter’s face and Carter admits that she didn’t. When Fusco points out that might be a blessing because she feel conflicted about arresting him, Carter assures him that she still plans to arrest her guardian angel if she catches him. Reassured that Carter can’t identify Reese, Fusco assures her that he has her back. At Claire’s apartment, Reese discovers that the police are outside. Posing as a CSU technician, Reese goes inside and confirms that Claire is dead, beaten and then shot. Fusco and his current partner, Olson, come in and Reese ducks out of sight. The Machine sees the car crash and two cars pull up. Reese grabs Claire’s cell phone and downloads her email, and then then ducks around the corner as Fusco and his current partner, Olson, come in. They realize that Claire recently came into some money and purchased some new items. Reese catches Fusco’s eye and gestures at him to meet him outside. He then calls Finch and says that he needs his help tracking the remaining three suspects. Finch reluctantly agrees and checks Matt, while Reese watches Wendy and has Fusco watch Paula. Fusco then comes out and wonders if Reese killed Claire. Reese wonders why Carter isn’t there and Fusco says that she’s been put on desk duty for now. When Reese asks him to watch Paula, Fusco wonders why and Reese tells him that she could be connected to Claire. At the station, Carter notices that someone messed with her desk. Captain Womack calls her into his office where another man, Mark Snow, is going over her file on Reese. Womack wants an update and is disappointed when Carter has nothing to tell him. He suggests that she’s working with Reese and Snow asks if Reese shot her snitch. Carter refuses to answer until Womack threatens to fire her, and then Carter admits that Reese was the shooter. Reese goes to Wendy’s salon and sees a man on a motorcycle pull up. The man goes inside and Reese follows him in, but discovers that he’s a courier. Wendy notices Reese and assumes that he’s a customer, and he has no choice but to play along and let her make an appointment for him. She flirts with him and takes him to a chair, putting down her cell phone. Fusco follows Paula to where she meets with a man on the street and buys a gun from him. She spots the detective and he goes after her, but Paula loses him in the crowd. Meanwhile, Finch follows Matt to a motorcycle shop where the PoI buys an expensive motorcycle with cash after quitting his job. He calls Reese, who sees Wendy taking a call. He figures that Matt and Claire are connected. Fusco calls to tell Reese that he lost Paula, and Reese realizes that Wendy has slipped away. An aide confirms that Wendy had an emergency and had to leave. Reese checks back in with Finch, who has spotted a woman leaving a stroller near Matt’s car. He sees the mother down the street, fiddling with a remote, and heads toward Matt to warn him. The bomb in the carriage goes off, knocking Finch to the ground and killing Matt. Four people gather at the crash site and confirm that the driver is dead and he was carrying cocaine. Back at headquarters the next day, Finch blames himself for not saving Matt. Reese tells him to let it go and focus on Paula and Wendy. Finch has been unable to find any connections between them and figures that Paula is keeping a low electronic profile. He checks the Wi-Fi connections on the phones of the other three PoIs and learns that they were all on Roosevelt Drive at 11:56. There was a car accident there with the name withheld, and Reese wonders if Paula is the killer. Finch finds out the address for Wendy’s mother Susan in Putnam County and Reese heads out. Carter meets with Fusco and Olson and tells them that Claire’s fingerprints were at the scene of the car accident. Matt’s fingerprints were also there, and he made purchases in cash just like Claire. Congressman Hallen’s son Jamie was driving the car, and Hallen was investigating banks. A brochure for a Haitian charity was in the car. Carter wants to check out the camera surveillance, but Olson suggests that she stay at her desk as ordered and she notices Snow watching her. Fusco calls Reese and tells him what Carter found out. Reese asks how Carter is doing and Finch says that they’ll keep an eye on him. He then tells Fusco to keep his phone on when he talks to Hallen. Fusco and Olson go to see Hallen, who says his son was driving home from a party with Davis Bannerman, one of the bankers that he’s investigating. When they ask if Jamie was dealing drugs, Hallen admits that his son was dealing with people that he didn’t approve of. They say that they’re going to talk to Bannerman and Hallen warns that the banker might not be truthful. When Fusco asks about the charity, Hallen says that it’s one of the good things that his son did. Meanwhile, Finch checks the route that Jamie took and realizes that he wasn’t going home from Bannerman’s party. Reese arrives at the house and spots first Wendy and then Paula. Paula has a gun and Reese prepares to shoot her, but sees her hug Wendy. Inside, Paula gives Wendy a new phone and warns that people are looking for them. Reese comes in and Paula draws on him, but he easily disarms her. They explain that their foster sisters and demand to know who he is. Before Reese can answer, there’s a knock at the door. A man named Dayne says that his car has broken down and his cell phone has gone out. Dayne persists and Reese tells Paula to let him in. He then disarms Dayne as he goes for his gun. They struggle while Wendy and Paula run out the door. Dayne’s partner opens fire from the car, giving Dayne time to escape, and Reese realizes that the sisters have escaped as well. At the station, Carter brings in the footage of the car crash and shows it to Fusco. It shows Claire and Matt pulling up to the crime scene and two other women coming over on foot. The resolution isn’t good enough to let facial recognition software identify the women. The footage then shows the four witnesses taking a suitcase of money from the car. Carter has confirmed that Detective Foster at the 82nd precinct is checking out the crash. The footage then shows a man (Dayne) in a car with no license plates pulling up, checking out the crash, and making a call. Fusco suggests that Carter go talk to Foster. Reese checks the house and finds a photo of the two sisters with their mother, Susan. There’s also a letter from St. George’s Hospital to Susan. Reese has Finch check the hospital records, and he confirms that she broke her hip and is staying there. The bank is foreclosing on the house and Reese figures that’s why they took the money. Carter leaves the 82nd and calls to tell Fusco that there is no Foster there. Someone used a fake ID to check out the camera footage. She hangs up and then spots Snow following her. He suggests that they talk and they go to a diner with Snow’s partner. Carter figures that Snow is CIA, and he says that he used to be Reese’s best friend. Reese is now killing people, some good and some bad, and they’re telling Carter so that she knows what she’s dealing with: a man destroyed by the things he was asked to do. Snow explains that Reese is paranoid and kills his friends, like his contact Kara Stanton. Reese supposedly died but the CIA discovered that he was alive when Carter checked on his fingerprints. They want to use Carter as bait, figuring that Reese trusts her. Fusco and Olson call Bannerman in and ask him about Jamie. Bannerman says that he asked Jamie to leave when it was clear that he was stoned, and doesn’t know if he was dealing drugs. Jamie did have a lot of money recently, and Bannerman had heard that he was dealing with people that he shouldn’t. Finch listens in, and afterward Fusco tells him that Hallen and Bannerman coordinated their stories. He figures that Jamie was working something for them and they left him out to dry. Reese gets to the hospital and sees Wendy with her mother. Finch calls to tell him that Jamie was heading for La Guardia and was going to fly to the Cayman Islands on a private jet belonging to Bannerman. A nurse sees Reese and asks if he needs anything, and he says that he’s fine. Finch says that he has a plan and will call Reese when he knows more. Reese then calls Wendy out into the hall. She says that Paula went to get something to eat, and apologizes for lying to him. Wendy then tells Reese that they were out walking and the car crashed. When they came over to check out the crash, they found a suitcase with a million dollars in it and split it four ways. The sisters knew it was wrong but couldn’t resist the temptation. The $500,000 is under Susan’s bed. Elsewhere in the hospital, Dayne knocks out Paula and wheels her out. Wendy insists that they want to give the money back but they don’t know who to contact. They figure that they can find a way to let their mother keep her house. Dayne calls Wendy, sends a photo of Paula, and tells her to bring the money to the parking garage. A half-hour after the accident, Dayne checks Jamie’s car, confirms that the money is gone, and goes to check the camera footage. Finch poses as a blogger, Thomas Paine, and meets with Hallen. He tells the Congressman that his enemies are using Jamie to bring him down. Bannerman plans to blackmail Hallen by revealing that the Haitian charity held $30 million that was never used, and connect it to Hallen. Finch explains that he hasn’t gone to the police because they’re working with the police, and suggests that the congressman transfer the funds to the Red Cross and eliminate the evidence. He gives him a pen with his telephone number on it and Hallen says that he’ll call him. Outside, Finch listens in on the mike on the pen as Hallen calls Bannerman. Bannerman says that the last two witnesses will be dealt with. Hallen tells him to close down the Haitian charity account, and Finch records the conversation and sends it to Fusco. Reese calls Carter and apologizes for the heat she’s taking on his behalf. He offers to make her look good by telling her she can catch the people who killed Matt and Claire, who will be at the hospital parking garage. Carter thanks him for saving her life before he hangs up, and considers what to do next. She then calls Snow and tells him where Reese will be. Reese and Wendy go to the parking garage with the money. While Reese hides in the shadows with a sniper rifle, Wendy meets with Dayne. The same nurse from earlier approaches Reese, and he hides the rifle and says that he’s doing fine. She draws a gun on him and Reese ducks behind a car. He tells Paula and Wendy to run and then shoots a steam pipe near Dayne. Reese then knocks out the fake nurse, Dayne’s partner, and shoots Dayne when he recovers from the steam. He makes sure that Paula and Wendy are okay, and tells them to keep the money and that no one will come after them now. Finch taps into the camera on Fusco’s desk and hears Carter call Snow. At the parking garage, Snow and his partner cut off the camera feeds. Reese goes to the roof to get his car and finds Snow and Carter waiting for him. Reese greets Snow by name and asks what he wants, and the CIA man says that it’s time for him to come home. When Reese refuses, Snow’s partner opens fire on him, shooting him twice in the gut. Reese returns fire, taking out the headlights on Snow’s car, and limps away. Carter also slips away, and Snow and his man leave. Reese limps down the stairs and calls Finch. He thanks Finch for giving him a second chance and tells him not to risk rescuing him. Finch ignores him and keeps driving. Meanwhile, Carter follows the trail of blood down the stairs. Finch arrives at the parking garage and goes to help Reese. Carter comes out and orders them to stop, and recognizes Finch. After a moment she holsters her gun and helps Finch get Reese into the car. Finch drives away and Carter watches them leave. Trivia *According to the Machine's archival footage, the final scenes of the episode occurred on December 15, 2011, the same date as the episode's original airing. *This is also the first episode where we see multiple 'numbers'. *Starting with this episode, all the main characters have met each other in person. *In real life, the Ducati store and the hair salon are at the same address. Production notes Music *'When Things Explode' by Unkle - End of episode. Featured locations The opening shot, where a car crash takes place is not Roosevelt Drive. First,a point of fact about the New York City street grid; There is a Franklin Delano Roosevelt Drive (or FDR Drive for short), which is a major artery which hugs the periphery at the eastern edge of and originates very near the tip of Manhattan (one of Five Boroughs which compose New York City),& there is a Roosevelt Avenue which spans out across eastern Queens (another Borough) but no Roosevelt Drive within the Five Boroughs. Rsvlt-Dr-C.jpg|Facing Lower Manhattan Rsvlt-Dr-B.jpg|Brooklyn Bridge straight ahead Rsvlt-Dr-A.jpg|The BQE to the right That being said, the actual roadway is Joralemon Street (the Borough of Brooklyn). More specifically the part of the roadway which bends to run alongside the water's edge of New York Harbor. Furthermore, it is bounded by Atlantic Avenue to the South and Furman Street (with the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, or BQE for short, very nearby) to the East. After Detective Carter determines that Detective Foster does not exist, she is trailed by two CIA Field Officers, Snow and Evans, as she is walking along Flatbush Avenue from Fulton Street to Livingston Street in Brooklyn. Flatbush.jpg Flatbush-map.jpg Analysis Cultural references *The quote "The pen is mightier than the sword" is printed on the pen that Finch, posing as blogger Thomas Paine, gives to Jim Hallen. The quote appeared in a modified version in a letter Thomas Jefferson sent to Thomas Paine in 1796. Quotes *"Thank you for saving my life." -Carter *"Hello John. I'm surprised you winded up in New York City. I thought you'd get yourself a cabin in the woods. Montana, maybe... It's time to come home John. The slate's been wiped clean." -Agent Snow 110 110